Monday, December 6, 2010

Protests on eve of Student Day

Students at Tehran University's Technical College defied a security clampdown to stage a protest on their campus on the eve of Student Day, according to videos posted on YouTube by Unity4Iran.

Student Day in Iran, December 7, is different from International Student Day which takes place on November 17. While celebrating student activism in general, the Iranian event is also a commemoration of the slaying of three Tehran University students by the Shah's police in 1953, shortly after the coup that brought Mohammad Reza Pahlavi back to power.

Students organized mass rallies against the regime on this day last year. (For a look at a live blog of December 7, 2009, please click here. For a detailed analysis of one video taken at Ghazvin University, please click here). Reports from Iran indicate that the regime has bolstered security in an effort to prevent similar incidents from occurring tomorrow.

The following videos were taken at Tehran University at approximately 3 PM, 6 December 2010, Unity4Iran explained in an e-mail exchange.

'Ya Hossein, Mir Hossein,' the students chant in support of Green leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. 'Death to the dictator!'


'With God's help, victory is near,' they shout. 'Death to this deceitful government!' And later: 'Students will die before they accept humiliation.'


'Political prisoners must be freed!'

2 comments:

  1. Are you familiar with the concept" "voiceover"?
    And, did you check what people were wearing in the 25 million protest?
    Now Tehran Bureau is quoting you ... is the competition for rating that hot that evaporated your patience and diligence?!?!?!?

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  2. Thank you for your comment, Naj.

    Ummm, I don't know why you've commented on this article which is from December 6. You're possibly referring to the 25 Bahman (Feb 14) scrapbook. In which case, I invite you to re-read what I wrote (which shows that I am indeed familiar with the concept of voice-over):
    'An amazing video. If authentic, it shows the first massive protest in Tehran in over a year. The only thing that makes me consider that it is possibly credible is the chant that can be heard: 'Mobarak, Ben Ali, nobateh Seyed Ali!' ([Hosni] Mobarak, [Zeinolabeddine] Ben Ali, Seyed Ali [Khamenei's] turn!) But was the chant added to an old video? I'm afraid I can't say.'

    Earlier today, this is another entry on my blog:
    '2:30 PM Tehran time - 11:00 AM GMT
    Tehran
    Initial videos appearing on the Internet and purporting to be from today do not appear authentic. Weather in Tehran is brisk today, but protesters in this clip are not dressed warmly.'

    On the topic of ratings... I do not get paid for my blog, nor do I use my own name for some misguided sense of personal glory.

    Also, if you think that reporting on such issues may contain errors, etc., I would have to agree with you. It's too bad that journalists cannot work freely in the Islamic Republic, that the flow of information is constantly blocked by the regime, that people can be arrested and thrown into prison for communicating ideas or facts... In an ideal world, we'd have journalists on the ground in Tehran to give us a more accurate idea of what is occurring there.

    Please feel free to comment on my blog. No censorship here.

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